Fiji says Forum suspension unlikely [1]
Thursday, April 30, 2009 - 12:14. Updated on Friday, September 12, 2014 - 11:47.
Fiji's military regime says it doesn't believe it will be thrown out of the Pacific Islands Forum, despite stern warnings from members.
Australia and Papua New Guinea have reaffirmed their intentions to remove Fiji from the forum if it fails to announce an election date before May 1 - just two days away.
The deadline was set at a January meeting to discuss the troubled state that has been without a democratically-elected government since a December 2006 coup.
The forum's chairman, Toke Talagi, this week also restated the deadline ultimatum, saying it was even more important, given the abrogation of the country's constitution in recent weeks.
But Fiji's interim Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, said he doubted his country would be removed from the forum.
He told the news website FijiLive that the country's military leader Frank Bainimarama had been informing the forum and its members on recent developments in Fiji.
"The prime minister's office has been busy dealing with this and I don't think that Fiji will be excluded from the PIF activities," he said.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his Papua New Guinea counterpart Michael Somare suggested the opposite on Tuesday when they presented their united, hardline position on Fiji.
"You cannot sustain within a family of democracies within the Pacific Islands Forum, or a family of democracies within the Commonwealth, a government like that of Fiji," Rudd told reporters.
Sir Michael, traditionally a Bainimarama ally, said PNG was also adopting a tough approach towards its troubled neighbour.
"We have bent over backwards (to help)," he said.
"I have tried my best, but they have decided to suspend the constitution."
The latest upheaval stems from an April 9 decision by the Court of Appeal that Bainimarama's government had been ruling illegally since staging the country's fourth coup.
The constitution has since been abrogated, the currency devalued by 20 percent, media sanctioned and elections set back to September 2014. TVNZ Online/Pacific Media Watch, 29,04,09.